In baseball and softball games, it is conventional to have an on-deck area where a batter may warm up prior to batting in a batter's box adjacent to home plate. The warm up usually includes exercises to stretch a player's muscles, to practice swinging a baseball bat, and to gain a closer inspection of an opposing pitcher's technique as well as the flight of a ball pitched to the opposing team's catcher.
An on-deck area is usually located about half-way between home plate and the home team's dugout, along and away from the first base line, and another on-deck area is usually located about half-way between home plate and the visiting team's bench or dugout, along and away from the third base line.
In many baseball and softball fields, an on-deck area is designated by a chalk line circle, and sometimes with dirt, instead of grass, within the circle. However, many fields are less fastidiously maintained, and have no designated on-deck area.
A player positioned in an on-deck area is subject to various dangers associated with play on the field, such as foul balls being hit towards the player, broken bats or inadvertently thrown bats flying through the air, the opposing team's players chasing foul balls, and the opposing team's players running for back-up position for balls thrown to a base.
It is important for an on-deck area to be properly located so as to minimize these dangers and to have some designation for the area so that an on-deck player does not meander from the area. It is also important for other players to have an appreciation of where the on-deck area is located so that they may avoid collisions with an on-deck player or a bat swung by the on-deck player.
The present invention was developed with an appreciation for better defining on-deck areas than simply using a chalk line or a patch of dirt, and especially for defining on-deck areas in those fields that have no chalk line, dirt patch, or other designation for the on-deck area. The present invention also appreciates that many young boys and girls play baseball and softball and helps to ensure that, when such youngsters are on-deck, they know where the on-deck area is located and do not stray from that area. Also, the present invention provides a strong visual indication to the on-deck player's teammates not to wander or venture into the on-deck area and alerts the opposing team's players of the location of the area so that collisions may be avoided.